The Dragon and the Songstress
by The Apocryphal One
Summary: "Mama, I want a story with a good dragon!" Inspiration is a bit hard to find when put on the spot, however, and so, flustered, Azura does her best to indulge her daughter...


A/N: This was supposed to be a throwaway drabble done for a prompt on my Tumblr, but it ended up a fair bit longer, and I liked it more than I expected. So I'm sharing it here. For those of you awaiting an _Aftermath_ update, sorry to disappoint, but the next chapter should be up Friday or Saturday!

The prompt was:

 **Anonymous asked: How about a drabble request? Azura is reading Kana a bedtime story with a dragon in it, but Kana gets upset because the dragon is the bad guy and gets killed. She asks for a story about a good dragon, but those don't exist and Azura has to make one up from scratch.**

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 **The Dragon and the Songstress**

"…the dragon fell, dead, and the prince sheathed his sword, gazing at the castle where his beloved was impri–"

A sniffle stopped Azura's reading. The blue-haired woman looked up from the book to see Kana rubbing her nose, her eyes watery. "Kana? What's wrong?"

That simple question caused the waterworks to overflow. "Why is the dragon always evil?!" her daughter wailed. "Why can't the dragon be the good guy for once? Why can't the dragon get a happily ever after?"

Azura winced, closing the book and laying it aside. In hindsight, it was perhaps a bit harsh to read a story to her quarter-dragon daughter about a dragon being hated and dying, but there weren't many other types around. Children were simple; they wanted things to be in black-and-white, clear cut, good and evil. Handsome princes, beautiful princesses, evil wizards and dragons to be slayed. That was what many wanted, and that was what many got.

Kana was not like most children. "Mama, I want a story with a good dragon!" she demanded in a fit of young pique.

Azura inwardly panicked, though her face retained its carefully cultivated expression of calm. "Kana, I don't think–" She stopped, swallowing _I don't think there are any_ before the sentence could finish leaving her lips, and instead said, "I don't think we have any books with stories about good dragons."

"Make one up! Please, Mama _pleaseeeeeee!"_

"Alright, don't cry, dear." Her mother hastened to comfort, casting her brain about desperately for inspiration. "Um…once upon a time, there was a dragon…prince. A prince of dragons, yes. He had majestic white scales and lived in a–"

"What was his name?"

"His…his name? Um…it was…Kamui."

The four-year-old nodded, satisfied, and made a gesture for Azura to go on. Feeling oddly chastised, Azura hesitantly continued, "Anyway, Kamui, like many of his kind, lived in a barren, mountainous land. He…um, he often spent his mornings flying, observing the world below him. He had several siblings, but they had their own lives to attend to. For the most part he was alone, and secretly a bit lonely."

She felt her confidence growing as her mind started to shape the direction the story would go in. "One day, he decided to deviate from his usual routine and flew in a different direction. He came upon a wondrous place, full of lush grass and sparkling water. He landed besides a lake, and as he bent his head to drink, he heard singing.

"A little-known fact about dragons is that they love music. So, curious, Kamui followed the sound of the voice, and after walking for a bit he found the source. It was a human woman, the land's princess, and her voice was clear and beautiful as it lifted in song. He was entranced."

"You said he wasn't the bad guy!" Kana cried in betrayal. "He's going to kidnap her and get killed and–"

"Now, Kana, don't judge a story before it's finished," Azura scolded. "The woman turned, and he expected her to scream in fright at the sight of him, for he was a dragon after all. But instead the princess said 'You're a far way from your home, dragon. What brought you here?' He responded, 'I was lonely and flying, and I heard your voice.'"

"The princess was moved with empathy, for she too often felt lonely in her castle. So she sang for him again, and they chatted a while. Time flew by, and before they knew it they each had to return to their homes. But they made plans to meet by the lake in secret the next day, and for a time things continued in that manner.

"Eventually, Kamui discovered an awful truth. Aqua, for that was the princess's name, was under a curse, and would die before the year was out."

Her daughter gasped, eyes watering, already mesmerized. "Oh no!"

"Yes, oh no indeed," the songstress said gravely. "Determined to prevent this, he flew around seeking help. But none of the people of her land would help him, for he was a dragon, and none of his kind would help, for he had been consorting with a human, and dragons and humans had long been at odds.

"Eventually, an aged old dragon, whose scales were all the colors of the rainbow, was moved by his tenacity. The rainbow dragon told Kamui he would need to wield a sacred sword and kill the sorcerer who had cursed Aqua to save her life. 'But I am a dragon prince!' Kamui cried, 'Not a human prince like in the human's stories. How can I save her, then, if I can't even hold the sword?

"'Despair not,' the rainbow dragon said. 'This magical stone will allow you to assume human form, so you can take up the holy blade and kill the sorcerer. But do not think less of yourself because you are a dragon–in fact, this is something only a dragon could do, for the sorcerer's domain is in the sky, where no human could go.

"So Kamui took the stone, and found the sword, and with it in his jaws spread his wings and flew into the sky. He found the sorcerer's castle, and alighting upon it used the stone to turn into a human. Inside, the sorcerer was waiting; he did not speak, merely raised a hand and sent his undead minions at Kamui.

"Long and hard Kamui battled, but he was one against many. He was nearly overwhelmed, when, to his surprise, his fellow dragons arrived, with Aqua's people upon their backs. They did not like each other, but his dragon kin cared about him, and the humans about Aqua, and for their sakes they would join the fight.

"With both species battling the undead, Kamui had a clear path to the sorcerer. He charged him and, in one smooth motion, impaled him upon the sacred blade. And the sorcerer died, and with him his army.

"Kamui did not wait to celebrate. He spun around, changing back into his dragon form, and dove out of the sky. He zoomed through the air, and spotting Aqua's familiar form, landed by the lake where they had first met. She was lying prone on the ground, and Kamui called out her name in a panic. She did not answer, and he collapsed beside her in despair, fearing he had been too late.

"But then she opened her eyes and smiled, lifting a hand to touch his scaly face. 'My prince,' she breathed, and said no more, for no more needed to be said.

"From then on the two species got along, and Kamui and Aqua were permitted to be together. Though she assured him she loved him whatever his form, he kept the stone that let him turn into a human, and spent an equal time as both dragon and human. They eventually wed, and they lived happily ever after."

Finished, Azura looked at her daughter. Most of the time Kana fell asleep halfway through, but not this time. Her eyes were wide, completely enraptured, as she fought her sleepiness to hear the end of the story. She clapped her hands, a delighted grin spreading across her face. "Yaaay! Tell it again, Mama! Again!"

"I'm glad you loved it, sweetheart," the songstress whispered, tucking the covers around the young girl. "But it's getting late, and you need your sleep. I'll tell you the story again tomorrow."

Kana pouted. "Okay…"

Chuckling, Azura kissed the top of Kana's forehead and departed. Her husband was in their bed, reading a book. He looked up as she entered, smiling. "How did storytime go?"

Azura slipped under the covers, nestling closer to him. "It went well…my dragon prince," she added with a mischievous twist of her lips.

Corrin raised an eyebrow. "Clearly, I'm missing something here."

Leaning in for a light peck, Azura whispered, "Don't worry, love. It just involves a certain story I told Kana. I think you'd find it quite familiar…"

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A/N: This was fun to write. Thanks for the prompt :)


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